Recently, one of my students travelled out of town and trained at another aikido dojo which belonged to a different association. Upon bowing in he was told not to part his hakama (hakama sabaki) when going to seiza because that's how the Japanese shihan did it. He was also told not to bow by placing left hand then right down on the mat. Apparently, Japanese shihan did that also. Very strange stuff...

I was wondering if anyone had encountered this strange type of etiquette when visiting other dojo and if they knew which hand that the Japanese shihan use to wipe with so as to not offend anyone

But hey...when in Rome...